The common vehicle currently selected by the military for the transportation of personnel and for troop patrols is the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) commonly referred to as a Humvee. The current method of armoring a HMMWV has generally focused on small arms fire in combat. The escalation of threats in current active combat situations has sent the military looking for further protection. The weak construction of the original body of the HMMWV has made the military conduct an extensive search for additional protection. Thus the continued addition of heavy armor to an already weak body has made the task difficult. Once the main cause of mortality shifted from ballistic threat to blast threat, this method of armoring became even more of a threat to combat troops.
The current method of attaching additional armor to the aluminum body of the HMMWV is weak at best. The failure to have positive attachments between the heavy armor panels stresses the weak aluminum body, which allows the up-armored HMMWV to fold or collapse in a collision or blast. The addition of such up-armor has increased the weight of the vehicle while raising its center of gravity increasing the chance of roll-over and greatly diminishing its mobility and handling. It would be therefore advantageous to find a solution for adding additional protective armor to the existing HMMVV design to protect the military personnel inside the vehicle.